Lisa Hershman, acting chief management officer at the Pentagon, said the agency’s fiscal year 2020 funding request will include a formal reform budget for the first time, Defense News reported Thursday. She said her office has over 50 reform initiatives focusing on the Office of the Secretary of Defense, fourth estate agencies and military departments.

“We’re actually giving a nod specifically to numbers allocated for reform. Let’s keep in mind, some of these, to make these big changes, might include some investment, but there’ll also be savings,” Hershman said.

In late fiscal 2017 and in fiscal 2018, the CMO’s office found $4.7B in validated savings from reform efforts across the Department of Defense. Hershman said the new initiatives included in DoD’s FY20 budget could slightly increase savings. Changes in regulations and statutes as well as streamlining the procurement process could also contribute to the future savings.

Hershman said her team found 249 regulations that if repealed would save nearly $25M on the process side. On the procurement side, the CMO suggested reviewing day-to-day expenses of DoD to address bureaucracy.

The Energy Department earmarked $35M to fund 12 projects aiming to deploy medium-voltage electricity for the electrical grid, transportation systems and other industry applications, DOE said Thursday. Eight of the projects will support the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy’s Building Reliable Electronics to Achieve Kilovolt Effective Ratings Safely program, while four initiatives will aid in the OPEN+ Kilovolt Devices effort. 

The BREAKER projects will focus on producing direct current devices capable of handling large amounts of power, prevent safety hazards, mitigate distribution losses and enable the optimization of renewable resources and energy storage. The Kilovolt Devices efforts will address a range of issues in medium-voltage power electronics, with a focus on fortifying grid security. 

“These ARPA‑E projects serve first and foremost to modernize how we move power around safely, reliably and efficiently, creating a new set of capabilities for tomorrow’s utilities and industry,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. 

DOE noted that most existing power distribution networks utilize alternating current instead of DC electricity. 

The Department of Defense is behind schedule reviewing data provided by contractors to help the agency avoid fraud, waste and abuse in military contracts, according to the Government Accountability Office. GAO issued a report Thursday showing that DoD is lacking the mechanism to monitor reviews and ensure the process is being conducted in a timely manner. 

Federal and defense acquisition regulations and policies require DoD to review the adequacy of contractor business systems that provide data on accounting, estimating and purchasing, among other systems. The Pentagon intends to catch up on the delayed reviews over the next three years, however, GAO has questioned the sufficiency and consistency of the defense agencies responsible for the reviews.

The Defense Contract Management Agency failed to monitor whether the reviews are being conducted consistent with current policies, while the Defense Contract Audit Agency conducted few business system audits than required since 2013. GAO recommended that DoD require the directors of DCMA and DCAA to collaborate and create a mechanism to monitor and assess whether contractor business systems reviews are completed on time.

The Department of Agriculture unveiled a resource guide to help facilitate broadband connection deployment in rural areas. The e-Connectivity Toolkit is a free PDF file listing over 27 programs that are intended to assist potential customers locate projects and resources to develop potential broadband initiatives, USDA said Wednesday.

The file includes information on technical assistance programs, loan services and grants under the agency’s various mission areas. Anne Hazlett, assistance to the secretary for rural development at USDA, said the guide allows users to view the agency’s resources and support broadband expansion in U.S. rural locations. The effort is under the agency’s Rural Development program which provides economic and employment opportunities through grants and loan assistance.

President Trump formed the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to validate policy changes that can market agricultural programs to rural communities.

The U.S. Army is making progress to reach its 2022 readiness goals but still faces challenges on staffing, repairs, modernization and training for large-scale conflicts, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday.

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GAO analyzed the Army’s efforts to improve warfighting readiness since 2016 as part of the study. The government watchdog noted that the Army has advanced the efforts to increase its personnel, develop new warfighting concepts, update equipment and launch new training strategies such as the implementation of simulated technology.

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However, GAO said the Army failed to progress on matters such as achieving recruitment targets, staffing new cyber and security force units, repairing Patriot missile systems, evaluating modernization costs and boosting unmanned aerial system training efforts. Other challenges detailed in the report include failing to hire and retain personnel for the service branch’s maintenance depots.

According to the report, the Army must continue to work on GAO’s 44 recommendations to support its transformation ahead of future warfare operations especially in the new cyber domain.

Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, said during a recent roundtable that an “architect” could be deployed for the Advanced Battle Management System effort, Defense News reported Thursday.

Roper said the architect will be responsible to ensure compliance with U.S. Air Force requirements and find technological alternatives if the need arises. The Air Force will oversee four initial prototyping efforts for the ABMS command-and-control network, which intends to replace the JSTARS ground surveillance aircraft. Roper noted that the ABMS may involve air-based sensors, space-based technology, disposable drones and communication links.

According to the acquisition head, the architect model could be used as a basis for similar programs in the future if the strategy is successful. 

The U.S. Air Force’s top acquisition official wants to increase the service’s partnerships with the small launch industry to utilize small satellites for missions commonly supported by large spacecrafts, Space News reported Wednesday.

Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, announced the initiative after a meeting with Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson at the Pentagon. The officials discussed how the company could help the service in its future space missions. Roper said there is an opportunity for small satellites to become “a big deal” at the Pentagon as the military establishes a “responsive space” for rapid deployment of assets in space. 
 
“If you lose a satellite, you put another one up at the time you need it,” he said. “You don’t put it up earlier because you’re just  giving an adversary time to think about how to take it out.”

Roper added the Air Force wants to work with space startups and commercial businesses to gain ideas to help the military enhance its space capabilities.